The first appearance of a group of Jews who most probably
settled in the lands we call today Albania occurred in 70 AD when a ship
carrying Hebrew hostages for the Roman Emperor Titus was wrecked on the Ionian
coast near Saranda. While we do not have concrete facts on how many Hebrews
settled in the land, a mosaic depicting a fragment of a Hebraic candleholder
implies the construction of a synagogue at the time.
It is only at the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries that we can document a
settled community of Hebrew merchants in Durres. Hundreds, perhaps thousands,
of Hebrews found refuge in Albania fleeing Spanish Habsburg persecution and
they settled in Lezha, Durres, Vlora, Berat and Elbasan as well as in Monastir,
Skopje, Prizren, and Prishtina where one can find abandoned synagogues. The
good relations between Hebrews and Albanians brought about small waves of
immigration from Thessaloniki, Preveza and Ioannina as these cities were added
to the Greek state, to Vlora, Gjirokastra, Delvina, Kavaja and Durres. Hebrew
migration in and out Albania ebbed and flowed depending on the waves of
pogroms or persecutions in other countries but it was limited due to the
scarce resources available in Albanian lands.
However, it was at the time of greatest need that Hebrew-Albanian friendship
proved to resist the harshest trials and tribulations. In 1933 - 34, members
of the Hebrew community and the High Committee for the Refugees turned their
eyes upon Albania as a refugee place for Jews fleeing from Nazi persecution.
Even Hebrew individuals themselves, turned their eyes upon Albania, and so
during 1938 - 39 until 1943 more than a thousand Hebrews from Germany,
Austria, Poland, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Greece found hope and life
in Albania. Although they were suffering themselves under the Fascist and Nazi
invaders as well as from a worsening economic situation, Albanians clothed,
fed, hid and transported Jews to safe heavens under the nose of the invaders.
For example, Mark Menahemi a Jew told me that in the beginning of 1944 when
the Nazis undertook an operation in Tirana city to find and seize Jews and
freedom fighters, he found refuge in Dhorka Kovaci Kolonja’s house. She got
him into her marital bed and introduced him as her husband. “I’ll never
forget this great act of humanity that this woman, Dhorka did” - said to me
Mark Menahem. Some of the rich Jews offered money to their Albanian hosts but
they did not accept. On the other hand, Hebrews gave their help to the
Albanian people in their war against the invaders. Rafael Jakoeli and Nesim
Levi ex - merchants in Vlora contributed giving 6000 francs per month. The
same did Shemo Kohen in Delvina etc. A considerable number of young Jews
joined partisan formations while others helped in the rear. Eight Hebrews
Jusef Solomon Konforti, Jakov Avramovic, Isak Ruben, David Kohen, Jusef David
Bivas, Leo (the partisan), Jakov Josef Bachari and Dario Arditi gave their
lives fighting alongside Albanian partisans.
Incredible as it may seem, no Jews people got persecuted in Albania during the
shoah. That makes Albania a unique country in Europe. After the end of
the War, almost all the Jews that came during 1938 - 1943 went back to their
permanent residences, so in Albania remained only those that had come before
the War and a few newcomers during the War. The Albanian state never requested
their removal. It was only after the fall of communism that Albanian Jews went
back to Israel. As they left, they took Albania with them in their
hearts-something we can verify from their correspondence. But, Albanians do
not forget Jews either. They remember them as wise and hard working people,
honest and very loving. This has given rise to a not inconsiderable number of
intermarriages.

Testimony of Valor

The Hebrew Committee in Yugoslavia in its greetings to our
Government in 1945 wrote: “While the Hebrews of Yugoslavia, Poland, Germany,
etc., were exterminated through toxic gas by the Nazis fascist without
differentiations, women, men and children: there was a people in the Balkans
that defied against every racist theory and this was the heroic and hospitable
people of Albania .. Our brothers that came back from your country told us how
the Albanian families generously welcomed them in their houses and protected
them from every trouble [...]”.
An engineer, Samuel Mandili writes in 20 February 1945: “All Israelis that
came from Albania were saved thanks to the generous sentiments of the Albanian
people that considered it as a moral duty to protect in their own houses every
persecuted emigrant [...] The marvelous and noble attitude of the Albanian
people needs to be known because they deserve the world’s and every cultured
man’s thankfulness [...] Even the poor peasants, not only received Jews in
their homes, but also shared with them their last piece of bread”. Another
Jew, Nisim Bahar that got saved from the hands of the Nazis that wanted to
execute him in Fier, wrote to his sister in law, Zhulia Kantozi: “I am in
Ohrid I have climbed a hill on the lakeside and I see Pogradec. How I missed
that country! If I could have wings to fly, I would come to kiss that holy
Albanian land that saved my life”.
Miles Lerman Chairman of the Holocaust Museum Council in USA at the occasion
of placing several Albanian families names upon the Memorial Wall of the
Museum said: “We are here to say thanks to Albania that raised sons and
daughters so noble that knew how to react in a time when Hebrews were isolated
and deserted in a time when they felt like even God had abandoned them
[...]”. The Director of the Rehearsal Institute of the Holocaust Museum, Mr
Michel Berenbaum, pointing at the names of the 300 families placed on the
memorial wall said: “everyone of these people is a lesson about human
courage and nobility and a great oath for the humankind”. All of this and
much more inspired me to begin work to perpetuate these historical facts as a
message of peace, fellowship and love between our people. I published my book,
“Hebrews in Albania during the centuries,” at great financial cost from my
USD 40 monthly retirement money, adding this to all the sacrifices that my
country made during the War for the salvation of the Jews.